Eternal Flame
by Casey Redbird
Summary: Did you think Stephenie Meyer was tame with the ending to the Twilight Saga? Did you think us Twi-hards deserved a better ending? Eternal Flame is a compilation of amplifications of certain scenes in the novel, especially sex scenes, off-camera scenes, and the way I would've done things, not an entire different version of the book. Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot changes.
1. Forever

**Forever**

_**What happened after the curtains closed in the Breaking Dawn book 3 sex scene between vampire Bella and Edward.**_

_Bella_

There was nothing in the world but him again- his arms curled under me, his sweet breath against my face, his lips just inches away from mine- and there was nothing in the world that could distract me now, newborn vampire or not.

"We're going to tell Alice that I ran right into the clothes," I whispered, twisting my fingers in his hair and pulling my face closer to his. "We'll tell her I spent hours in there playing dress-up. We'll _lie._"

He caught up to my mood instantly, or maybe he'd already been there and was just trying to let me enjoy my birthday present, like a gentleman. He pulled my face to his with sudden fierceness, a low moan in his throat. The sound sent the electric current running through my body into a near-frenzy, like I couldn't get close enough to him fast enough.

I heard the fabric tearing under our hands, and was glad that _my _clothes were already destroyed as my hands met his shirt and ripped it to ribbons. It felt almost rude to ignore that pretty white bed, but we just weren't going to make it that far.

With lightning speed he grasped my body and pulled it closer to his own. Now that we had no concealing clothes to cover ourselves, our bodies fit perfectly together like a puzzle piece. His hands, once again, felt like satin against my skin, and his kisses felt so soft against my lips. I moaned as he kissed my neck, sending soft, lingering kisses all along the nape of my neck and down to the small of my back. Somehow we remained connected, though I don't think it was very secure. He was so new now, a different person as our bodies melded together like two similar scorching fires.

There was no fear now, no hesitation, no holding back because he was frightened that he would break me. So much was different now, and there was so much more than I was used to. He'd been holding back so much, in an attempt to save my life. I could see that he'd been telling the truth so plainly, as clear as crystals as his hands moved with lightning speed along my body. We crushed together, and I did not once make a move to break from him. When he wasn't kissing me, he was moaning my name, a soft, beautiful moan that almost kept me distracted from the task at hand.

I tried to remember that I was so much stronger than he was at that moment, and that I could hurt him, but that kept slipping my mind. All I could remember was the _pleasure- _how utterly, beautifully, devastatingly wonderful it felt. I almost laughed with glee as I remembered how I'd felt like the last time was the best it could get. I'd assumed that once I was immortal, nothing would feel the same- the human emotions within me would be gone and I would be almost hollowed out.

Of course I'd been wrong. What _hadn't _I been wrong about?

I remembered how that first time had been the epitome of my human life, and I'd wanted so badly to stay human just for it. I should've known it would be better.

All this raced through my head as he pulled me even closer to him, even though we were already almost pressed up against each other. I moaned softly as his lips moved to my breasts, kissing and sucking a little bit all in the same instant. Everything was so fast, so light, and so beautiful. I remembered how easily vampires could get distracted.

There was nothing, of course, that I wanted in this existence more than him. It was for him that I had become immortal, and it was for him that I'd endured the terrible pain that had brought me here. So, for what reason should I stop? What should I give into? What will would I ever have to stop?

At that moment, I didn't care about after, or any time in the future. All I cared about now was _him, _and only him. And as he moaned and pulled me even closer, I forgot that there _was _anything to forget.

XOXO,

Casey


	2. Renesmee's Birth

The Birth Scene

Edward

The cup tumbled to the ground. Instantly, all of our hands reached out for it. But Bella barely saw it. She stretched her hand out, eager to get her blood.

_Crack!_

I was frozen as Bella instantly fell to her knees. Her eyes went blank, lifeless, but I could still hear her breaths- shallow pants. But it was only a matter of time before Bella screamed. The scream was an agonized, blood-curdling shriek of pure pain and horror. Bella's body twisted over and she vomited a fountain of blood.

Her body, marred by all the blood, started to twitch and convulse, but she didn't make another sound. I could hear every single crack and snap of her bones. The sound was torture. I was frozen in my spot, like the true icicle I was- I could not move. Rosalie snapped Bella up. She snapped up the stairs. Barely breathing, I followed her.

"Morphine!" I shrieked at Rosalie. My voice sounded almost unrecognizable.

Bella, my Bella, was still twitching on the table Rosalie had set her on. I felt the same deep pain I'd been feeling for her and knew it was my heart. My heart was breaking. Maybe it was already broken.

"What's _happening, _Edward?" Alice yelled.

"He's suffocating!" Rosalie cried.

"The placenta must have detached!" I shrieked.

From seemingly nowhere, Bella's eyes snapped up to ours. She screamed again. Each shriek brought a torrent of pure hatred from me from myself for allowing this to happen. "Get him _out_! He can't _BREATHE! Do it now!" _

The morphine. "The morphine…" I growled.

"NO!" Bella looked at me- or it looked like she was looking at me. In her eyes was a determination and rage she couldn't hide. "NOW…" Another gush of blood escaped her quivering lips, ending her words. The blood vessels in her eyes popped, gushing red from her eyes.

Alice darted into the room, handed Rosalie a Bluetooth, and backed away slowly, her eyes golden, burning with anger and lust.

Lust for Bella's blood.

I could hear every thought except Bella's. Jacob was thinking: _In the bright light, Bella's skin seemed more purple and black than it was white. _Rosalie was considering gleefully whether the baby would be female or male. Alice was trying not to smell the delicious, almost seductive scent of Bella's blood.

Rosalie retrieved a scalpel from the drawer beside the table. I was furious that her only thought was to retrieve the _baby, _to save the _baby, _when Bella was dying, but I said nothing, only watched, still frozen, staring at my queen's mutilated body. It was only when Rosalie placed the scalpel above Bella's baby bump that I spoke. "Let the morphine spread!" I snapped.

"There's no time!" Rosalie almost smiled; maybe it was simply her curling her wide, full lips over her teeth. "He's dying!"

A vivid red blood spouted from Bella's stomach. The scent of it washed over me, though it had no affect on me. I was thinking only of her. As the scalpel made contact with Bella's skin, she seemed to twitch but didn't make a sound. Her heart was beating, but the beats were slowly dwindling, from the loss of blood in her veins. I was studying Rosalie intently, watching her cut into her stomach, when I saw her eyes darken and her lip curl back over her teeth.

"No, Rose!" I shouted. But I couldn't move. I was trying to prop Bella up so she could breathe. I looked to Jacob. He nodded slightly and lunged at her, throwing her back. The scalpel embedded itself in his left arm. He winced slightly but otherwise said nothing as he threw Rosalie out of the room. Alice grabbed her and pulled her down the stairs.

She did not fight back. Of course she didn't. She wanted the baby to be born. She would do anything to get that baby.

Bella was turning blue, the color fading from her cheeks. She wasn't breathing. "CPR?" I begged. I hoped he knew CPR.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Get her breathing!" I snapped at him. "I've got to get him out before…"

The loudest crack we'd heard so far exploded into the air. We both froze in shock, waiting desperately for Bella to scream. But nothing came out of her mouth. In fact, her body went limp, like she could no longer move. And I instantly recognized what was broken. The choking realization of it sent a wave of pain so powerful it almost knocked me to my knees.

"Her spine," I choked.

"Get it out of her!" Jacob growled at me, throwing the scalpel. I caught it almost perfectly. "She won't feel anything now."

He bent over Bella's body and began to blow breaths into her lips. I could hear her heart thumping unevenly, like it was soon about to cease to beat. _Keep it going, _Jacob shouted in his thoughts. _You promised. Keep your heart beating._

I bent over Bella's stomach and sank my teeth into the skin. It was tasteless, lifeless. _Please, Bella, baby, _I sobbed in my thoughts; but I knew better than to let go of the cold, calm anger that decorated my exterior. The hope that fluttered into my system was unstoppable as I saw the tender skin pop open, blood dripping over her distorted, lifeless flesh.

I heard Bella's soft cough. "You stay with _me _now, Bella!" Jacob yelled at her. "Do you hear me? Stay! You're not leaving me! Keep your heart beating!"

She seemed to look to see him, but I knew she couldn't see anymore.

I pulled the baby free from her abdomen. I stared into his- or rather, _her, _because it was clear that the porcelain baby before me was the girl and not the boy she'd imagined- brown eyes and _felt _for her again, felt that connection with my daughter that deemed her my child. I simply stared into her brown eyes. All the anger that had touched me faded- anger, reluctance, shock, happiness, love- every emotion was cut swiftly away as I stared into the beautiful baby girl.

"Renesmee," I whispered.

Bella's weak arms lifted. "Let me… Give her to me," she whispered in a voice so soft I could barely hear her.

I'd give her what she wanted. I had to. I loved her. Even though it pained me to do so, I handed the porcelain child to her. I could feel the almost subconscious pull Renesmee had on me fading away as soon as she was out of my arms.

I saw the faint love and adoration in her almost lifeless though unflinching gaze. "Renes…mee. So… beautiful," she said softly.

I heard the gasp that escaped her lips, so full of pain that I looked to where the baby rested on her chest- so awkwardly, like the child was digging her teeth into Bella's flesh… I realized what was happening easily.

"No, Renesmee," I said sternly, pulling the baby off of Bella. A double-crescent bite mark rested on her left breast.

I wrapped a towel around Renesmee. She was breathing in short but defined pants. She seemed irritated, as though… but I could read her mind. I could read it quite clearly. There were only pictures, a dim picture of Bella, smiling up at her. Her heart was beating healthily. But it was the worry- much too wise and mature for someone only a few weeks old- in her brown-eyes as she stared at her mother that made _me _look at her mother. I heard the final _ka-thump _her heart made. And then it fell silent.

Bella's eyes went blank.

Jacob pounded his hands into her chest, doing compressions. One. Two. Three. Four. He blew another lungful of air into her. "What are you waiting for?" he demanded, pumping her heart again. One. Two. Three. Four…

I was frozen with shock. I could not see anything but her, everywhere, even behind my eyes; the absence of her heartbeat was almost as numbing as human Novocain.

"Take the baby," I choked.

"Throw it out the window," Jacob snarled.

"Give her to me," Rosalie said. She came quietly into the room. I saw her eyes play quickly over Bella's body, and caught the sorrow, even though it was tempered with glee that the baby was alive. At least she cared about my queen in some way. "I've got it under control. Give me the baby, Edward. I'll take care of her until Bella…" She stopped short, but the rest of her sentence seemed to hang in the air: _Until Bella either dies or changes. _I could hear the wisp of her thoughts: _It's going to be okay, Edward,_ she reassured me, but I couldn't listen anymore. I couldn't see, hear, feel, taste, or smell anything that was not Bella.

I handed Rose the baby. She walked out of the room. I slipped quietly back into the haunting depression that had shadowed me since she had discovered she was pregnant. I walked quickly over to where Jacob was still compressing her heart, blowing breaths into her still lungs.

"Move your hands, Jacob." It surprised me how calm my voice sounded, considering the inside of me was teetering over the edge of madness.

He looked up at me, doing as I'd asked. I grasped the syringe beside the operating table firmly, and shoved it into Bella's heart without hesitation, not thinking about Jacob. Rose. Alice Carlisle Esme Emmett Jasper Renesmee...

"What's that?" Jacob asked quietly.

"My venom," I answered in that same hauntingly calm tone. I heard the jolt in her heart like I'd shocked her. "Keep it moving."

Jacob started to pump her heart again. Suddenly a flash shocked my brain- an idea. I bent over her flesh and bit her, using my saliva to close the wounds, allowing the blood to stay inside her body. Over and over. I figured if I kept the venom going, healing her bloody, broken bones, she'd resurrect faster, make a full recovery.

Jacob blew more air into her mouth, but this time it was just the lifeless rise of her chest. I heard Jacob's thoughts. _All that was left of the girl we both loved. A broken, bled-out, mangled corpse. We couldn't put Bella together again…_

I snapped out of his thoughts. I didn't even want to think about the possibility that Bella was dead. That it was too late. That I'd failed her again.

_It seemed like I felt the pull in the opposite direction now. From down the stairs, out the door. To get away from here and never, ever come back._

"Go, then," I snarled at him. I had no time for Jacob's melodrama. I pushed his hands out of the way again, feeling that I'd snapped three of the bones in his fingers. He straightened them numbly, making no response.

_He pushed her dead heart faster than I had…_

"She's not dead!" I growled. "She's going to be fine." At least that was what I was telling myself.

Jacob turned away from me, leaving me alone with Bella, alone with my wife, my queen, whose heart still hadn't begun to beat.

"Bella!" I whispered at her. "Come back to me, baby. Please." I heard the calm, cool exterior I'd placed over my voice begin to fade, and the sounds that escaped my lips now were pure hysteria and madness. "Bella, baby. You're not dead. You're not dead." I bit her once more, in her neck, where a bleeding gash had formed. "Come on, come _on_!" I pleaded her.

All of a sudden there was a peculiar feeling tingling through me. I could feel the jolt of realization as I pushed her heart. The madness spread to my lips. I couldn't speak anymore; I waited numbly for the ocean of pain to touch my hair, to spread past the follicles of my hair to the endless world beyond.

A world without Isabella Cullen was a dark, terrifying abyss, filled with abysmal, masochistic monsters. A world without Bella was a world without Edward. I could not live without my life. I could not live without my only connection to humanity. In my Bella, I had found what I had lost in my transformation to a vampire.

My soul.

If tears were possible in this body, they would have fallen freely from my eyes, but I could not cry. I could let the madness fly into my mouth, caressing my lungs, so that I couldn't breathe. I would not breathe in a world without my Bella, my wife, my queen, my _everything. _Passion, love, happiness- those emotions would fail to exist, and without my love, I would cease to exist as well.

I tried not to concentrate on the cold, dark future that lay ahead if Bella did not survive this, instead focusing on the compressing of her heart.

I smelled the scent of blood- human blood, which was not Bella's. Renesmee was being fed by Rosalie.

I could hear Jacob's slow footsteps toward the kitchen and knew he was going to try to kill the baby. But right now I didn't care. I didn't care. All I wanted was my Bella back. I could not concentrate on anything that wasn't Bella… her beautiful heart, even her warm scent was gone.

And suddenly I heard Jacob's wisp of thoughts.

_Everything inside me came undone as I stared at the tiny porcelain face of the half-vampire, half-human baby. All of the lines that held me to my life were sliced apart in swift cuts, like clipping the strings to a bunch of balloons. Everything that made me who I was- my love for the dead girl upstairs, my love for my father, my loyalty to my new pack, the love for my brothers, my hatred for my enemies, my home, my name, my _self_… disconnected from me in that second- snip, snip, snip- and floated into space._

I felt his desire and love and knew beyond any doubt that Jacob had imprinted on Renesmee. But I couldn't focus on that now. I pumped Bella's heart once more. And then something caught. The venom had finally reached the center of her heart. It almost looked like she was awakened. But I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Her heart was suddenly frantic, racing…Changing. The madness washed away from me in that instant, as soon as I knew that my Bella would be okay. I kissed her forehead. "You're alright…" I whispered. "You're alright."

I heard the thudding of paws from downstairs, and knew that the pack was coming. They'd gotten word that Bella was "dead", and were coming to kill Renesmee. "Alice! Jasper!" I yelled, and kissed Bella's forehead. I still thought her eyes looked lifeless. But I tried not to focus on that.

"It's going to be alright," I whispered to her, and left my wife behind. The change was an experience she was going to have to experience on her own. Even though it sent a painful bolt of the madness back into me to leave her, I had to. I could not leave my brother and sister defenseless.

I felt Alice and Jasper running behind me. We thudded outside to find the pack standing before us.

"We can talk," I pleaded. But I heard Sam's thoughts: _Kill them now! Go after the baby! Kill it with no mercy._

The wolves' response was instantaneous. They all jumped into action, pouncing on us, snarling and growling, mucus exploding from their nostrils. We were losing. That much was clear. One wolf nearly snapped Jasper's arm off. Another one nearly beheaded Alice.

I didn't want to fight anymore. I was tired of fighting. Bella was already okay. Renesmee would be protected. I felt Embry snarling on top of me, but I couldn't move until my Bella was okay. My body seemed to be only half of the whole, and without the other half, the whole didn't work. When one half was broken, the other half was severed as well.

I was certain Embry was about to kill me when Carlisle's deep voice penetrated the night.

"Stop!"

Some of the wolves shied away from killing the gentle leader of our coven. But most jumped into the battle again easily. Some wolves lunged for Carlisle. Esme and Emmett were beside him. All the wolves surrounded us. It was clear in Sam's eyes as he lunged for Carlisle that he was going to kill him.

"No!"

The deep tone of Jacob's voice made us all look at him. Rosalie was beside him. The sight of the porcelain baby made all the wolves snarl. Sam was gearing up to lunge at Rose and kill her when Jacob shifted into a wolf.

_If you kill her, you kill me!_

"Jacob imprinted," I told my stunned family, the calm exterior returning as I spoke for the first time since Bella's "death". The words seemed to whip around our tight circle. Sam jerked as if in shock. "They can't hurt her now," I continued reassuringly. "Renesmee will be okay. It's their most absolute law not to harm the subject of a wolf's imprint."

The wolves backed away. The anger had faded from Sam's face. If wolves could smile, it was what Sam was doing. Leah was "smiling" too. All the wolves faded into the forest.

"Bella will be livid when she finds out," Carlisle said into the stunned silence. Jacob snorted. I heard him think: _I bet she will. _I ignored him; I still couldn't focus on anything besides Bella. Besides, I was a bit miffed that he had imprinted on my daughter. But I couldn't think about that now.

As we re-entered the house, I heard the sound of Bella's still-beating heart, even more rapid than it had been before.

…

Her hair was turning back into a shimmering brown. Color was cascading back into her skin. Her bones were growing back in place. In seconds she was changing, transforming into a vampire. A beauty had settled into her features that had not been present when she was human. I could see the features of my queen there. One of her lips was still bigger than the other. She still looked the same. Her skin was still pale- even if it had gotten a little paler. But it was my queen.

I saw her chest rise. Her broken spine had finally healed itself. I sighed with relief. Alice and Jasper were watching me watching Bella. "How much longer?" I asked Alice through clenched teeth.

"It won't be long now," she responded. "See how clear she's becoming? I can see her so much better." She sighed and as I looked into her thoughts I could see Bella and I, with our beautiful daughter, Renesmee. A family.

Alive. Together.

"Still feeling a little bitter?" I asked her, trying to fight the smile that was twitching across my lips.

"Yes, thanks so much for bringing it up." Alice rolled her eyes. "You would be mortified too if you realized that you were handcuffed by your own nature. I see vampires best, because I am one; I see humans okay, because I was one. But I can't see these odd half-breeds at all because they're nothing I've ever experienced." She snorted. "Bah!"

"Focus, Alice," I cautioned.

"Right. Bella's almost too easy to see now."

I read her mind. I saw the same picture of Bella as a vampire, but this time her eyes were amber, the diluted color animal blood brings.

"Ahh," I sighed happily, content. "She's really going to be fine." I could see it now, my Bella waiting with me, ecstatic, eternity in front of us.

"Of course she is."

"You weren't so sanguine two days ago," I shot back at her.

"I couldn't _see _two days ago. But now that she's free of all the blind spots, it's a piece of cake."

I grinned again. "Could you concentrate for me? On the clock- give me an estimate."

Alice sighed. "So impatient. Fine. Give me a sec…"

_About a minute, _Alice thought. _Maybe two._

"Thank you, Alice," I said softly, looking back down to Bella's body. It almost looked like her eyelashes had lengthened a few inches. The dark circles under her eyes had faded. Her lips were rosy red, and they were almost curved up in the hint of a smile.

She looked a thousand times more beautiful than I'd ever imagined- and I'd spent a while imagining.

"She's going to be dazzling," Alice whispered, more to herself than me, but I responded. "She always has been."

"You know what I mean. Just _look _at her."

Alice breezed out of the room. I assumed she was going to get Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie. "It's my _turn_." Rosalie's voice was deadly as she snapped at someone- probably Jacob, because I heard the baby whining impatiently.

"Hey, now," Emmett warned.

Someone hissed.

I heard Bella's heart change its frantic beat once more. The beat went much, much faster, almost as if her heart was fighting the venom, protesting. Carlisle and Alice entered the room.

"Listen," I encouraged them excitedly.

Carlisle tilted his head to the side, then smiled. "Ah. It's almost over."

"Soon," Alice agreed eagerly, smiling too. "I'll get the others. Should I have Rosalie…"

"Yes," I told her. "Keep the baby away." I knew that if Bella came in contact with Renesmee she'd only be half a step away from draining every last drop of blood from her, and I couldn't let that happen.

Suddenly, Bella's fingers- her index and pointer- twitched. We all went silent. Her heart seemed to go even faster- faster than I'd thought possible for a human heart. "Bella?" I squeezed her fingers. "Bella, love?"

"I'll bring them right up," Alice chimed. The wind swished around her as she walked away.

And then Bella's heart took off, chopping like helicopter blades, almost melodious in its beat. I listened to the strangely calming sound for half a second more before I let go of Bella's fingers as she shot up from the table. Her eyes were still tightly shut, but it looked more as if she were sleeping than dead.

Alice came in the room with Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Esme at once. Carlisle looked at Esme; Jasper ran to Alice and kissed her; Rose and Emmett shared a longing look; and I smiled at all of them before we all looked back at Bella. Her heart was still thudding frantically, but it was losing against the venom. The venom was also losing, having consumed everything in her body.

Suddenly her heart stuttered twice, once more, and then it went silent.

There was not a sound. Not even breathing.

For a moment, Bella didn't move. I was almost beginning to worry. I'd not had her, touched her, tasted her, and smelled her for so long that it was beginning to feel permanent- like I'd never get my beautiful queen back. I leaned forward to touch her, to call her, _anything,_ when Bella's fingers twitched again gingerly.

And then Bella opened her eyes.


	3. Not a Chapter- Profile

Hey, guys, go read my profile now. I have some big news for you. Read it please.

Happy reading!

XOXO,

Casey


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